Australia Bushfire Sun

The sun setting tonight in Christchurch, NZ is tinged with the colour orange, the result of the smoke from the Australia bushfires. I've never seen this before and thought to take a pic:

Sun Setting in Christchurch NZ, coloured orange by smoke from Australia bushfires

Australia Bush Fires

The smoke from the bush fires ravaging Australia has reached where I am right now. Last night I couldn't go outside as the air was bad, and get this, I'm in Christchurch on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island. That's 3-4 days by sea, 3-4 hours by air, across the expanse of the Tasman Sea. I'm not young and have seen a bit of this and that, but this is one thing I've never experienced before. Perhaps a little bit of haze in the sky, OK, but not the actual smoke in the air and feeling it is hard to breath. These fires are truly catastrophic.